AAAA boys basketball wide open: No. 1 Columbia falls

Heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, there doesn’t appear to be a clear-cut favorite in AAAA boys. No team has separated itself.

No. 1 Columbia suffered its first loss against AAAA competition Friday, falling 70-66 at No. 4 South Atlanta. The Hornets lost to up-and-down Marist on Tuesday.

No. 2 Fayette County just went through a three-game losing streak, before rebounding to beat No. 9 Sandy Creek on Friday. Seventh-ranked Alexander has wins over Fayette County and Sandy Creek and improved to 8-0 in Region 5-AAAA with Friday’s29-point win over Troup County.

No. 3 Eagle’s Landing, the defending state champions, is unbeaten in Region 4-AAAA.

While a number of boys teams are capable of making tournament runs, the top-ranked and unbeaten Redan girls are the team to beat in AAAA. Brea Elmore had 25 points, and Jamese Abney and Jada Byrd each had 15 to lead the Raiders to a 77 -54 win at Grady on Friday. Redan improved to 20-0 and have only two games remaining on the schedule against teams with a winning record. According to the Georgia Basketball Project, 36 girls teams have posted unbeaten seasons since 1970.

No. 2 Columbus was forced to rally from four points down with a minute left to beat Sandy Creek on Friday.

Notes

Century mark: No. 5 Rutland boys put up triple digits for the second time this season in a 106-58 win over Mary Persons on Friday. Shakenneth Williams had 25 points to lead the Hurricanes, who improve to 8-2 in a tightly-contested Region 2-AAAA.

In position: Monroe guard Keshundra Price scored 36 points to help the Tornadoes roll past Dougherty on Friday.  The defending Region 1-AAAA champions, the Monroe girls needed a win Saturday against Crisp County to lock up the region crown.